Shalom Y’all!

This site shows what happens when the "Chosen People" choose pork. North Carolina pork barbecue to be specific.
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L'Chaim!

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With Labor Day just around the corner, it seems like a good time for a public service announcement: Don’t fall asleep while breaking into your favorite BBQ joint. Last year, a gentleman in Gates County made that mistake and I’m sure his life is full of regrets. All my best wishes for a safe, crime-free and restful (but not sleepy) holiday,

The Kosher barbecue scene is heating up faster than a gefilte fish swimming upstream.

At least that’s my conclusion based on the pictures in the Kansas City Star of yesterday’s 2nd annual Kansas City Kosher BBQ Festival, which was organized by Rabbi Mendel Segal (soon to be known as Rabbi Handi Wipe?). Click on this link to see a photo gallery of the event, including a picture of the Rabbi’s father as he “tested some BBQ ribs,” according the the Star. It sure does look like a pork rib that he is eating but I have a sneaking suspicion that it is actually a piece of burnt end. Anyway, good to see the KC Kosher community embracing barbecue. That said, I’m still waiting for the Judea (Really) Reform Whole Hog Barbecue Contest…

Pit-cooked barbecue, including “Carolina pulled pork”, has established itself in Japan, according to this article in The Japan Times. If anyone would like to fly Porky LeSwine to Tokyo (a coach seat is fine, as he is a humble man despite referring to himself in the third person), he will be happy to review these barbecue joints. (So far nobody in Japan has opened a restaurant callled Lexington Ichiban, by the way.)

We sure do live in a global society. I wonder what they’ll think of next–sushi restaurants in North Carolina?! Oh, who am I kidding, that will never happen. However, a “Carolina BBQ Roll” would be pretty tasty: slaw and pork wrapped in cornmeal-dusted nori… mmm mmm, maybe I can skip that flight to Tokyo after all.

It’s good to set down your New York Times bestseller once in awhile and read once again from the gospels. To that end, I suggest you, gentle reader, take the time to read this July 2011 article from the News & Observer/Charlotte Observer. Food writer Kathleen Purvis does a tremendous job of describing what makes real barbecue–a sublime mix of wood, smoke, sweat, and stubbornness–while profiling the Skylight Inn and other purveyors of the true ‘cue. Enjoy!

At long last, I’m taking the time to better organize my reviews of North Carolina barbecue restaurants. Step one was updating the list of Joints to include all the places I’ve visited to date. As of moments ago, that task is (mostly) complete. Next up is a Google Map listing all the places I’ve visited, which will make finding joints near you/your travels much easier. I’m about five years behind the times–too cheap and lazy to build the Swine Finder BBQ App I really want to produce–but it’s a start. I should have the map up and running, with a link from the Joints page, any day/week/month now. Stay tuned, fellow barbecue hogs.

Over the years I’ve seen some highly bastardized recipes for NC-style barbecue, so it was with relief that I read this recent AP article that appeared in the Fayetteville Observer. No crockpot, no oven, no thick ketchupy sauce, no strange cuts of pork, just a basic recipe (and good instructions) for making barbecue. Kudos to Elizabeth Karmel for preaching the right gospel (well, mostly, as her use of olive oil might fly in the Old Testament but is odd).